Staff and Leadership

Staff

Abby is the first director of the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable. Under her leadership, the Roundtable has tripled in size, supported sector-wide efforts on civic engagement and racial equity, inclusion and diversity, and organized two conferences of 150 people across the network. Previously, Abby led a coalition of 30 local progressive organizations in Columbus, Ohio with America Votes, served as the founding San Francisco staff member for Progressive Jewish Alliance, now Bend the Arc, and worked in development for DC Vote, which works for DC voting rights and statehood.

Abby received a Human Rights Award from the Jewish Labor Committee in 2019 and is a Senior Schusterman Fellow, a Jewish leadership program. She has a BA in political science from Yale University and lives in Washington, DC with her husband and two kids.

Roberta joined the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable in June 2019 as the first deputy director. A lawyer by training, she spent most of her career working as senior pro bono counsel and director of programs at a large law firm in Washington, DC. Roberta also has worked as a field organizer supporting a statewide ballot initiative to increase public education funding, a business community organizer supporting paid family and medical leave, a federal judicial law clerk, and a sixth-grade teacher with Teach for America.

Roberta received an Abraham Joshua Heschel award from Jews United for Justice in 2015. She holds a JD from the University of Texas at Austin School of Law and a Master of Public Affairs from UT's LBJ School of Public Affairs. She earned her BA from Smith College. She lives in Denver, Colorado.

Following two years serving as a member of the Leadership Team, April transitioned into a staff role on a part-time basis to further develop and advance the Roundtable’s racial justice work. She is also currently the principal of Joyous Justice Consulting and works with a variety of organizational clients within the Jewish community. She is the immediate past founding Vice President of Audacious Hospitality for the Union for Reform Judaism and is currently the host of their latest podcast, Wholly Jewish (which can be found on iTunes or here). She is the recipient of multiple recognitions and awards including the Center for American Progress’s 2017 12 Faith Leaders to Watch and Keshet’s 2019 Landres Courage for Dignity Award.

April is passionate about advancing liberation through informed, communal action rooted in personal wellness, optimal mindset, and joyful living. She currently lives in Senegal, West Africa. She has a BA in sociology with a concentration in social inequality from Tufts University.

Sophia joined the Roundtable as the Events and Operations coordinator ahead of the 2020 Network Gathering. She comes to the Roundtable after many years living in Israel running operations for start-ups and in tourism, developing programming and protocol for a wide range of events and diverse groups of visitors to Israel. Sophia has always loved to study Judaism and religion, participating in one of the first Moving Traditions Rosh Chodesh groups. She became especially committed to inclusive progressive Jewish education as a teacher in the Washington, DC, area while completing her Bachelor's in Religious Studies at American University. She considers herself exceptionally lucky to have had the opportunity over the years to study Religion in Spain and Argentina, learning Spanish along the way. Her commitment to and passion for social justice took root early as a camper and counselor at Habonim Dror’s Camp Galil, where she discovered the joy of using her skills as an administrator and logistician to support leaders and visionaries affecting change. Sophia returned to Philadelphia after 10 years away to practice progressive inclusive Judaism and live closer to many of her family and friends.

Pippi Kessler has trained thousands of people across the country to use their power for good. As a nationally recognized facilitator, trainer, and leadership coach, she creates innovative workshops for nonprofits, universities, schools, and activist groups. She is the co-founder of MovementMatch.org, a project that matches people with progressive activist organizations and received her M.A. in Social-Organizational Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Annie-Rose London is an organizer and social justice facilitator who seeks to create raucous experiences of joy and pleasure to counteract systems of dehumanizing oppression. Her passion is creative leadership and transformative group facilitation for thriving and equitable organizations. She has called herself an organizational consultant, a clown, a ritualist, an arts educator, a mentor – today she calls herself happy to meet you. She has served as the executive director of Berrett-Koehler Foundation, resident organizer at Moishe House Oakland, founder at True Life Coaching, arts director at Eden Village Camp, and O.U.R. Community Association and Ecovillage, and as a teaching artist at CityArts! For Youth. In addition to her work as Bay Area Coordinator with the Roundtable, Annie-Rose works with progressive organizations and community groups as an equity trainer, conflict mediator and creative strategist. She lives in a beautiful RV parked in the yard of a Jewish collective home next to the Oakland Rose Garden. Annie-Rose holds a BA in Biology from Brown University.

Leadership Team

The Leadership Team provides strategic direction and critical leadership to the ongoing work of the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable.